Charl Arangies set a new lap record of 59.898 seconds in his Stradale Motorsport / Pirelli Aston Martin Vantage GT3 around the 2.4km Zwartkops Raceway on his way to victory in the opening race of the fourth round of the 2018 G&H Extreme Supercars Championship on Saturday, 12 May.

He followed that up with another win in the second race. Jonathan du Toit (Trans Africa Racing Ferrari F430) won both heats in class A with Darren Winterboer (Barons Motor Spares BMW) taking the class B double. David Coetzee piloted his ELKSA Competition Sav Speed Racing BMW E36 Turbo to victory in both class C races.

Arangies came close to breaking the one-minute barrier back in January and with his car performing even better in the slightly cooler Autumn conditions, he had high expectations going into the early morning qualifying session. His final two laps of the session were both under the minute mark, the quickest 59.686 seconds giving him pole position by just over a second from Tato Carello in the Daytona McLaren 650GT. Charl Joubert (Lotus Exige) headed the second row of the grid with Dawie Olivier (G&H Transport Baby Beemer), whose time saw him bumped up from class A, alongside him. Mark du Toit (Trans Africa Racing Ferrari F430) was next up. Dino Scribante (Scribante Labour Consultants Porsche 997) was quickest in class A, just ahead of Jonathan du Toit with Ricky Giannoccaro (G&H Transport / Itre Cugini Logistics BMW M3) and Kashen Naicker (Aqua Darshan BMW E90), both of whom broke out of the class B time, in third and fourth. Class B went to Winterboer from Pieter Zeelie (Zeelie Auditors Toyota NRZ) and Nicky Dicks (Stradale Motorsport Curvent Porsche 997 GT3 Cup) with Bruce Turner (Promigen BMW E46 M3) heading class C ahead of Coetzee and Jimmy Giannoccaro (G&H Transport Ferrari F430).

In the opening heat, Arangies grabbed the lead from the start, pulling away from the chasing pack, led by Joubert. A couple of laps in the 59s gave him a big enough gap to then control things from the front and take a comfortable 13-second victory. Joubert followed him home in second while Carello just managed to hold off Joubert to claim the final podium position. Mark du Toit ended in fifth.

Scribante had built up a comfortable lead in class A when his Porsche lost boost, forcing him out of the race. This left Naicker and Ricky Giannoccaro at the front of the field as Jonathan du Toit worked his way through the traffic after dropping almost to the back of the field on the opening lap. By half distance, du Toit had moved into second place and with four laps remaining, demoted Naicker to second. Du Toit took the win with Naicker and Ricky Giannoccaro joining him on the podium.

Winterboer led class B from the start chased by Dicks in the early stages until his Porsche cried enough. Turner, originally in class C, reeled off a number of laps below the 1’06” barrier to earn promotion to class B and ended up in the runners-up spot behind Winterboer. In class C, Coetzee finished comfortably ahead of Jimmy Giannoccaro.

Race 2 was a repeat performance by Arangies, although this time he did not have Joubert to worry about; his Lotus let him down on the way to the start line. Behind Arangies, the fight for second was an enthralling one, Olivier managing to stay ahead to Carello’s McLaren until just after two-thirds of the way through the 15-lap race when BMW’s tyres could no longer give Olivier the grip he needed to stay in second. Carello held second until the flag with Olivier crossing the line in third ahead of Mark du Toit.

Jonathan du Toit made no mistake in class A, taking the lead from the start and slowly extending it until the flag. Scribante, Ricky Giannoccaro and Naicker were involved in a battle for second in the early stages but Scribante’s Porsche let him down again, leaving Giannoccaro to take second from Naicker.

Winterboer had an untroubled race to the class B win ahead of Turner with Coetzee taking his second class C win of the day from Jimmy Giannoccaro.

In the day’s overall standings, the class A+ silverware went to Arangies with Carello and Olivier joining him on the podium. Class A went to Jonathan du Toit with Ricky Giannoccaro and Naicker in second and third. Winterboer took class B from Turner with Coetzee victorious in class C ahead of Jimmy Giannoccaro.

The next outing for the G&H Transport Extreme Supercars competitors takes place at the Aldo Scribante Circuit in Port Elizabeth on Saturday, 14 July.

Published by: Paul Bedford

Picture Caption: Charl Arangies leads the charge into the first turn

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